About · Anderson

A flight school built by an instructor who stayed.

Name: Palmetto Sky Flight School
Address: 5805 Airport Rd., Anderson, SC, 29626, US
Telephone: 864-720-3163
Location: Anderson Regional Airport

After praying about it and feeling a conviction about the love I had for being home with my family and the love I had for the students I had been training, I decided to decline.

Eli Stoudemayer

Founder, Palmetto Sky Flight School

Two people standing under the wing of a small airplane, silhouetted against a sunset

Sunset · on the ramp

“The love I had for being home with my family and the love I had for the students I had been training.”

The line we fly by

Our story

Palmetto Sky started when a chief instructor turned down the airlines to stay home and keep teaching.

Our founder became a flight instructor for the usual reason: to build time and join the airlines at 1,500 hours, and went on to become chief instructor at a flight school in Anderson. When that school’s owners decided to close, the airlines were the obvious next step. After praying about it, our founder turned them down, out of love for being home with family and for the students they had been training.

That decision shapes how the school runs. Training follows a syllabus written here, which took hundreds of hours to develop, and every student’s progress is actively monitored. The instructors are full-time career CFIs.

The fleet is made up of Cessna 172s in excellent condition. They share the same model year and the same modern avionics, so students can switch airplanes without relearning the cockpit. The fleet is growing. The school trains private, instrument, commercial and flight instructor pilots from Anderson Regional Airport and flies with students from across Upstate South Carolina and Upstate Georgia.

Operating principles Anderson, SC

A fleet that keeps you flying

Every airplane is a Cessna 172 of the same model year with the same modern avionics, all in excellent condition. If one is down for maintenance you move to the next one and the lesson goes ahead.
A syllabus built here

Training follows a syllabus the school wrote itself, which took hundreds of hours to develop. Each student’s progress is actively monitored, so you always know where you stand.
Full-time career instructors

The school has several full-time career flight instructors. For them, teaching is the job, not a way to pass the time.
Built by an instructor who stayed

The founder turned down the airlines to stay home with family and keep training students in Anderson. This school is the result.

First light

The smoothest air of the day is at dawn.

Calm, stable, and empty of traffic. It is why the first lesson on the schedule is so often the one students remember.

A white Cessna 172 on a taxiway centreline, facing the camera under a blue sky with scattered clouds

172 Skyhawk

Tools that match the standard

Identical Cessna 172s, so your lesson doesn’t wait on one airplane..

The fleet is growing, with more airplanes planned soon. Flying the same panel every lesson means your time goes into flying skill, not into getting used to a different cockpit.

Explore the training programs

Where we fly

Learn to fly at Anderson Regional Airport.

Palmetto Sky Flight School is based at 5805 Airport Rd., Anderson, SC 29626. Serving Anderson and the rest of Upstate South Carolina and Upstate Georgia.